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Let's spend the night — on the sidewalk

Broadcast Date: April 16, 1979

Fans of the Rolling Stones have brought their sleeping bags to this ticket lineup. It's a cool April night and they plan to spend hours on the sidewalk waiting for prime seats to the band's benefit concert. Stones devotees seen in this CBC TV clip hope for one of 10,000 tickets for the concert in Oshawa, Ont. A court has ordered the band to perform for blind fans as punishment for guitarist Keith Richards' heroin felony.

One of the first fans camped out devises an order scheme for the lineup with numbered coupons. Luckily, he gets a ticket. Anyone who didn't spend the night was out of luck.

Let's spend the night — on the sidewalk

• Sleeping was listed as Keith Richards' favourite activity in the September 1965 issue of 16 Magazine.
• The ticket line up in this clip was for a double-bill benefit concert. The show for the Canadian National Institute for the Blind took place at Oshawa Civic Auditorium on April 22, 1979. Thousands of free tickets were set aside for blind people.

• The judge presiding over Richards' heroin conviction ordered the guitarist to perform the benefit concert. It was reported that the judge came up with the idea after he found out Richards was friends with a 24-year-old blind fan.
• During the trial at Toronto's old City Hall, then-rock journalist Jack Batten testified that Richards "was so rich and famous he didn't need to peddle dope to turn a dollar."

• In March 1977, the same week as the infamous heroin bust, the Rolling Stones played two surprise gigs at Toronto's El Mocambo Tavern. Montreal's April Wine was the opening act. Margaret Trudeau, wife of then-Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau was in attendance. She made headlines when it was reported that she took off to New York with the band after the show.

• Richards, Mick Jagger and guitarist Brian Jones were previously busted on drug charges in 1967.
• In June 1969 Jones left the group because of drug problems and disaffection with the group. He was found dead in his swimming pool in Sussex, England on July 3, 1969.
• The Rolling Stones played their first gig on July 21, 1962 at London's Marquee Club. When the band first formed, they called themselves the "Rollin Stones."

• Around the time of this clip, the tide turned against the Rolling Stones and they were increasingly considered passé. The Clash rode the anti-Stones tide with their slogan "No Elvis, Beatles, Stones."

Let's spend the night — on the sidewalk

Medium: Television

Program: The National

Broadcast Date: April 16, 1979

Guest(s): Andrew Owen

Host: Knowlton Nash
Reporter: Bill Harrington

Duration: 1:38

Last updated:
July 17, 2009